Furnace



Nov. 27, 1928.

o. A COLBY FURNACE Filed May ll. 1927 3 Sheets-Shee't INVENTOR Ora A. Co/by. BY

ATTO'RNEY Nov. 27, 1928. l,693,370 o. A. COLBY FURNACE Filed May 11, 1927 Iz 5 shons-Shoot 2 Fly. 2.

WITNESSES: 52 INVENTOR Ora /L Co/b Nov. 27 1928. l,693,370

o. A. COLBY FURNACE Sheets-Sheet 3 Hy. 7

Filed May ll. 1927 WWWWT BY E E %TOR'NEY Patented Nov. 27, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORA A. COLBY, or ANsrIELnomo, Assmvon 'ro WESTNGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANU- FACTU'RING COMPANY, 'A CQRPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA.

i IURNACE.

Application filed May 11,

My invention relates to beat-?creating fur naces and more' particularly to a means for !hovin-g articles therethrough.

An object of my invention is to provide an improved article moving means for a heattreating furnace, whereby continuou' arallel streams of articles to be heated are moved into, through and 'out of said furnace, said streams being moved intermittently and in a predetermined sequence With respect to each ,other to facilitate the feed ngof ,unheated :articles to ;the moving means. e

In practicing -my invention, I provide, in a furnace cha-mber, Lan' article-supporting hearth grooved to provide a, -plu rality of arallel paths along which the articles -to ;be heated may be moved. Cooperating -with each groove is a push rod actauat d :by a ,rotat-able cam to force an article :im said groove into said furnace `chanloer. AA cam ;is ;providedfor each push rod and isseeuned to adj acent cams :to permit radal adjustnent thereof so that saidpush rodsateactuated in a predetermnedsequence. One oftsaid came is keyed to a powerdriven shaft and,':because of the adjustable ;securing means between adjacent cams, all of the .cams are ro tated thereby.

In the drawings Figu re 1 is a vertical longitudinal section througha furnace embodying my invention, Fig. :2 is a .partiaal plan View ofthe :furnace shown in Fig. 1, the !soo-f being tpartially broken away,

Fig- ;3 is a View in section con ;the line IV IV of F ig. 4, i i

F ig. 4: is a -View in sideelevation of the article-moving meclanism, z i Fig. 5 is a :View in :front elev trion of the mechanism shown :in Fig. 3,

Figs.- 6 :through 9 :are details ofthe camactuating means, and i Fig. 10 is a lateral section of the article supporting hearth. p i

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, the furnace proper comprises walls, roof and bottom, of suitable 'built-up refractory members 2, defining a furnace cham'ber 4. A metallic casing 6 surrounds the refractory structure and is supported upon-angles-8 se- 1927. Serial No. 190,552.

cured thereto and projecting below the bottom thereof suitable ,sources of heat 10, in the present instance electrical resistor units, are mounted upon the side walls and in a suitable recess in the floor of the furnace beneath the hearth. Thermo-couples 12 are inserted through the -roof and side Walls of the furnace *for indicating the .temperature thereofi The heart-h of the furnace comprises `a corrugated refractory plate 14 (see Fig. 10) which extends substantially the length of the furnace chamber and projects through :the ;front all thereof to* form an article-receivng shelf 16. Withjn the furnace chamber, and ;adjaeent 'to ,the rear wall .thereof, the hearth M eommunicates ,With -a discharge chute 18 extending through the bottom of the furnace so :that the heated articles on said hearth may bedischarged therethrough.

,The article-movng means comprises a supporting rame :20 secured ;to the furnaoe stnueture ;by plates ;22, maintaining the frame in fixed relation to the furnace structure. v

Ashat 24 is :rotatably journalled upon an upright of the iframe 20 on the side farthest removed :from the furnace structure, and ro tation :thereof is effeoted through a reduction gearing 26, gears ;27, and a Variable-ratio transmission device 29, 30 driven 'by a belt operatively connected to'an electric motor;32. The va'ible-ratio'transmission 29, 30 is adjustable by a .hand wheel loperatively con nected thereto, and since it is ofjthe -usa1 type of ratio changing transmission, ;further description -thereof is not deemed necessary.

Keyed ,to shaft 24 and rotatable therewihh is ,an eccentrically apertured cylindrcal bloc'k33 constituting a cam for actuating a push rod, as hereinafter described.

A plurality of cams 34 similar in shapeto cam433 are loosely mounted on shaft 24 and means are provided to adjustably secure each cam 34 to an adjaoent cam and to secure one of them to cam'33, Whereby rotation of all of the coms is efiected.

'On'one of the lateral faces of each cam are drilled a plurality of holes 36 .arranged in acircle about the aperture in the cam and 100 concentric therewith, the number of holes 36 in each cam corresponding to the number of cams employed.

On the opposite lateral face of each cam and extendng parallel with the axis thereot are Securedtwopins 38 of a diameter of the proper size to permit the insertion thereot into holes 36.

WVith the pins selectively inserted into the holes 36 and the number of holes corresponding' to the number ot' cams employed, (ten in the present enbodiment) each cam may assume ten difierent radi-al positions with respect to shaft 24, so that by properly mounting the cams each may be in a difi'erent radial position With respect to the others;

The cams are maintained in operative position upon shaft 24 by a collar 39 adjustably clamped to said shatt. By loosening collar 39 and moving it along shaft 24 away from the cams, suicient clearance is provided to permit the relative adjustment of the cams, after which adjustment the collar 37 is moved to clamping position.

The article-moving mechanism comprises a plurality of push rods 40 corresponding to the ,number of cams employed. The operative end 41 of each push rod rests 'upon the article-receiving shelt 16 and is adapted to be reciprocated in one of the grooves formed therein. The outer ends of push rods 40 are pivotally secured to the upper ends of levers 42 which extend substantally Vertically down through the frame 20 adj acent the surfaces of eams 33, 34 and are pvotally mounted upon a rod 44 between suitable spacingsleeves 45 thereon (see Fig. 5). The rod 44 is secure'd to a cross piece of frame 20 below the horizontal axis of the cam shaft 24. i

Upon each of the levers 42 is pivotally mounted a yoke 46 with the arms thereof on either side the lever 42 and terminating ad jacent the camsurfaces. A roller 48 or other suitable friction-reducing means is carried by the arms of the yoke andis adapted to engage the peripheral surface of the corresponding cam. A guide rod 50 issecured to the yoke 46 and extends horizontally through a guide hole formed in a cross piece 52 of the frame 20.

The rollers are maintained in engagement i with the surfaces of cams 33, 34 during the complete rotation thereof by compression springs 54 which surround the guide rods 50 and bear at oneend against the yoke 46 and at the other end against the cross pieces52. V

In the operation of the device, as each rod 40 is moved away fromthe furnace to its fully retracted position, an article to be heated is placed in the corresponding grcove in the hearth 14 at the portion 16 thereof. Upon continued rotation of the cam, the red 40 is moved toward the furnace and pushes the article along the groove' into' the furnace chamber. Upon each retraction of the rod 40, a new article to be heate'd is placed in the groove so that continued operation oi' the device forces the articles along the hearth 14, during which time they are properly heattreated, and discharges them one at a time through the discharge-chute 18. This operation is common to all of the push rods and by the 'proper 'adjustment of-'the cams 26, 28 with respect to each other, the Operations maytake place in a definite sequence to facilitate the feeding of articles to be heated'into the grooves in the article-receiving portion 16 of hearth 14.

By myinventon, I have provided an improved article-moving means for a heattreat-ing furnace, whereby a plurality of stieams of articles to be heated may be'moved through the furnace intermittently and in a predetermined sequence to facilitate the feed'- ing of untreated articles thereto. i It is obvious that the form of the furnace employed, and-particularly the article-supporting hearth 14, may 'be varied to accommodate dierenttypes of articles to be heated, and different heat-treating Operations, and still be within the scope of my invention.

Various modifications may be'made in my invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereon as are imposed by the prior art and set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a furnace, a pluralty of pushers for moving a plurality of articles through said 'furnace, and meansfor Operating said pushers in a predetermined sequence, said means comprising axmotor-driven cam cooperating with one of said pushers, and a plurality'of cans adjustable raclially with respect to said first cam and driven thereby.`

2. In an article-moving means, a plurality of push rods for engaging a plurality of articles to move said articlesin parallel paths, means for actuating said push-rods in predeterminedlsequence, said means comprising a plurality of cylinders mounted eccentrically to form peripheral cam surfaces to actuate said push rods, means for rotating one of said cylinders, and means 'for adjustably securing the 'remaining' cylinders together to be driven by said first cylinder.

3. In a urnace, the combination with a furnace chamberyof a skeleton frame at the charging end of the furnace, a plurality of levers pivotally mounted at their lower ends in said frame, a plurality of revoluble cams supported in said frame fonactuating said levers, 'resilient means for yieldingly pressing said respective levers against the cooperating cams, and push rods pvotally connected to the respective upper i ends of the levers for pushin g material through the furnace chamber.

4. In' a furnace having aj corrugated hearth plate in the chamber thereof, in combination, a frame at the receving end thereof, a pluralty of levers pvotally supported at their lower ends in said frame, a plurality of revoluble cams supported in said frane for act-miting said leve's, spring means for yeldingly pressing the levers against the cam surfaces, and push rods havlng then' outer ends pivotally connected to the upper ends of the levers and their inner ends restng in the grooves of the hearth plate.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 29 day of April, 1927.

ORA A. COLBY. 

